<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Nighttime Prowl by HQcharbon (fleurdelester)</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28924638">Nighttime Prowl</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleurdelester/pseuds/HQcharbon'>HQcharbon (fleurdelester)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(kinda), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cats, First Meetings, M/M, Neighbours, and his cat likes to annoy kageyama, hinata is hot, thats a recipe for success in my book</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:08:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,070</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28924638</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleurdelester/pseuds/HQcharbon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>His miracle idea came to him one day as he watched the orange cat jump onto its balcony. There, practically blending into the cat’s fur, was a red collar. It’s a wonder he didn’t notice it beforehand, Tobio thinks, eyeing the bell that jingles as the cat leaps onto his windowsill to stare inside and look for Whiskers.<br/>There’s no tag, he thinks, but that won’t be a problem.<br/>He grabs a scrap of paper from his desk, writing a court message on a strip he tore off.<br/><i> Hi, your cat keeps coming to my apartment in the middle of the night. Is it possible you can keep him inside overnight? Thanks. </i><br/>He adds his name and phone number for good measure before slipping the note onto the mystery cat’s collar, hopefully ending his late nights once and for all.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>153</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Nighttime Prowl</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/emleewrites/gifts">emleewrites</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>HAPPY BIRTHDAY EM!!! thanks for being a joy to be around!!! i was absolutely inspired by the sheer amount of cats that occurs on discord to write this!! hope you enjoy!!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tobio loves his cat, he really does. He adopted Whiskers when he was fresh out of school, starting his career as a way to keep him company during his lonely nights in Tokyo. And truly, Whiskers was a great companion, choosing to curl up in whatever spot Tobio decided to relax in, usually soaking up the rare sunbeams whenever he found them.</p><p>No, Whiskers wasn’t a problem, but his frequent visitor was.</p><p>It had started a few weeks ago, the strange orange cat pouncing onto Tobio’s balcony while he was eating dinner, attracting Whiskers’ attention. The two had stared at each other for a few minutes, before the orange cat had leapt away, barely leaving a trace.</p><p>After that first contact, it had become a semi-regular thing.</p><p>Almost every day, at the same time, the cat would come to his balcony, taking Whiskers’ attention away from him for a few minutes, causing a faint yowling to come down the hallway. It didn’t really disturb him at first, since it always occurred while he was eating, but in the past week, things have started to change.</p><p>The visitor cat had apparently changed his shift, prowling onto Tobio’s balcony every night at exactly two in the morning, only 6 hours before he had to be at work the next day.</p><p>To put it bluntly, this cat was severely impeding on his sleeping schedule, and he didn’t know how to fix it.</p><p>At first, he tried to watch where the cat darted off too after riling up Whiskers on Tobio’s balcony, but the second he left the radius of the light on the porch, there was no telling where he went off too.</p><p>Then, he tried peering into his neighbour’s windows as he walked past his building, but he never saw a cat matching that orange description.</p><p>His miracle idea came to him one day as he watched the orange cat jump onto its balcony. There, practically blending into the cat’s fur, was a red collar. It’s a wonder he didn’t notice it beforehand, Tobio thinks, eyeing the bell that jingles as the cat leaps onto his windowsill to stare inside and look for Whiskers.</p><p>There’s no tag, he thinks, but that won’t be a problem.</p><p>He grabs a scrap of paper from his desk, writing a court message on a strip he tore off.</p><p><em>Hi, your cat keeps coming to my apartment in the middle of the night. Is it possible you can keep him inside overnight? Thanks</em>.</p><p>He adds his name and phone number for good measure before slipping the note onto the mystery cat’s collar, hopefully ending his late nights once and for all.</p><p>-</p><p>During his lunch break the next day, he sees a voicemail from an unknown number. Hesitantly, he listens to the message, only to find that it’s the owner of the cat.</p><p>
  <em>“Hi there, uh, Kageyama. My name is Hinata. This morning I found a note from you attached to Romeo’s collar, and I just want to apologize that he’s been keeping you up at night. We installed a cat door recently so it’s hard to keep him in at night. I’ll try to keep him in tonight, but please let me know if there’s anything else I can do. You can call me back at this number anytime.”</em>
</p><p>Kageyama promptly does not call back, though he does save the number to his contacts, just in case.</p><p>-</p><p>When he walks home from work later, the rain begins, starting with just a drizzle as he leaves the building and progressing to an all out downpour by the time he reaches his front door.</p><p>He quickly sheds his wet clothes as soon as he enters the apartment, stripping down to his boxers to get a fresh set of sweatpants. His task is interrupted though, when he finds the orange cat, find the orange cat, Romeo sitting on his balcony again, pawing at the door. Only this time, he’s screaming at his back door, drenched from the rain and practically begging for a dry place to wait out the storm. Whiskers is at the door too, meowing for Kageyama to let his friend inside.</p><p>Under most circumstances, he’d be pretty reluctant to let an animal that wasn’t his into his apartment, but it wasn’t like Romeo was completely unknown.</p><p>He rushes to grab a towel from the bathroom before carefully opening the door to the balcony, trapping Romeo in the towel before he can skitter away and track dirty water into his apartment. Initially, it’s a struggle to grab hold of the cat and wrap him in a towel, but it gets easier as he eventually relaxes in Kageyama’s arms.</p><p>“There you go,” Kageyama coos as he begins to towel off the orange fur, cradling Romeo in his arms. “I’ll put you in the bathroom and then call Hinata to come and get you, alright?”</p><p>The cat blinks slowly at Kageyama’s words, letting himself be picked up and deposited in Kageyama’s bathroom, curling up into the soft bathmat as soon as he comes into contact with it.</p><p>Kageyama smiles at the sight, gently closing the door so that he can’t get out and hide under the furniture in the time it takes Hinata to arrive.</p><p>He ignores Whiskers’ curious stare, before finally changing into sweatpants and grabbing his phone. He finds Hinata’s name on his contact list and presses dial, only waiting a few rings before Hinata picks up.</p><p>“Hello?” His voice is raspier than it was when he left a voicemail, and he sounds out of breath, breathing heavily down the phone while he waits for Kageyama to answer.</p><p>“Hi,” Kageyama says. He’s not sure if Hinata saved his contact info, so he introduces himself anyways. “It’s, uh, Kageyama. The guy who attached a note to your cat.”</p><p>“I know,” Hinata laughs. “I saved your number into my phone.”</p><p>“Oh. That’s good then.”</p><p>“It is.” Hinata says, then after a long pause: “Was there a reason you called, or did you just want to hear the sound of my voice?”</p><p>“Oh,” Kageyama eyes his bathroom door, Whiskers sitting patiently outside like he’s waiting for his friend to come and play. “I found Romeo on my balcony soaking wet from the rain so I let him in so he could dry off. He’s in my bathroom, but if you could come get him, that’d be great.”</p><p>He gives Hinata his address, and with the promise of Hinata arriving at his apartment in the next five minutes he heads off to finally find a shirt. He picks the first clean one off of his laundry chair and goes to wait by the door.</p><p>Exactly three minutes later, he sees a young man with bright orange hair holding a cat carrier above his head to shield him from the rain as he scurries up to Kageyama’s front door. His grey t shirt is wet from the rain, despite his best efforts with the cat carrier; his hair sticking to his forehead.</p><p>Kageyama opens the door for him before he even knocks, letting Hinata catch his breath on the doorstep.</p><p>“Hi,” he says, mildly stunned by the sight before him. Hinata is much more attractive in person than he is on the phone.</p><p>“Hi,” Hinata pushes his bangs out of his face. “Thanks for letting Romeo in, you really didn’t have to do that.”</p><p>“But he would have gotten soaked if he stayed outside,” Kageyama says, swinging open the door so that Hinata can step inside. “He’s fine now, by the way. He’s just hanging out in my bathroom.”</p><p>“Oh,” Hinata says, setting the carrier down at his feet to take off his shoes. “I really hope he wasn’t too much trouble. I can repay you if you want.”</p><p>As he speaks, a droplet of water rolls down Hinata’s face, and Kageyama follows the droplet as it rolls down Hinata’s neck, landing on his collarbone, exposed by his soaking wet shirt.</p><p>“That won’t be necessary,” Kageyama forces himself to look away from Hinata’s <em>everything </em>and meet him in the eyes. “Why don’t you stay for a cup of tea? At least until the rain lets up a bit?”</p><p>Hinata’s shoulders relax in relief. “Thank you, that’d be great.”</p><p>He follows Kageyama into the kitchen, watching intently as Kageyama puts on the kettle and gestures for him to follow.</p><p>“Romeo is in here,” Kageyama says, pointing to the bathroom door where Whiskers is still sitting, looking up at Hinata curiously. “Be careful of Whiskers if you decide to go inside, I don’t know if they’ll get along or not. I’ll be back in a second with a dry shirt for you to wear.”</p><p>Kageyama rushes into his bedroom, rifling through his clothes for something acceptable for Hinata to wear, because if he has to look at that wet shirt clinging to his muscles any longer, he might not make it.</p><p>He finds Hinata sitting on the floor of his hallway, the door to the bathroom opened just enough for the two cats to eye each other. Whiskers leans in, sniffing the air around Romeo before flopping onto his side, letting the other approach him easily.</p><p>“Well, looks like they get along fine,” Hinata says, looking up at Kageyama. His smile is big, crinkles at the edge of his eyes as he takes the clean shirt from Kageyama. He doesn’t even attempt to find a private space to change, whipping off his wet shirt and trading it for the fresh one right in front of Kageyama’s eyes.</p><p>“Where can I put this to dry?” He asks, holding the wet clothing an arms length away from him.</p><p>Kageyama is about to answer when he’s interrupted by the kettle starting to whistle in the kitchen, calling him away.</p><p>“You can just hang it in the shower!” he calls as he rushes to stop the screeching of the steam. “You can take a towel from the cupboard too for your hair!”</p><p>Now that he’s separated from Hinata by the hallway, he focuses his attention to the task at hand, pouring the boiling water into the two mugs on the countertop, deliberately <em>not</em> thinking about Hinata’s abs that had been on display just a few minutes ago.</p><p>Hinata joins him in the kitchen a few seconds later, one of Kageyama’s towels wrapped around his neck.</p><p>“Do you need me to do anything?” he asks, rubbing the soft cotton against his hair.</p><p>Kageyama shakes his head, wordlessly passing him one of the mugs and turning to lean against the counter. “Are the cats okay?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Hinata scoffs. “When I left them, they were curled into a ball together, already falling asleep. I figured it’d be best to leave them be for now.”</p><p>He takes a sip of tea before looking Kageyama directly in the eyes, his gaze soft. “Hey, are you sure there’s nothing I can do for you? For helping Romeo today, and for the, uh, <em>inconvenience</em> of his nighttime prowls.”</p><p>Kageyama thinks deeply about Hinata’s proposition. He doesn’t really feel like he deserves a reward, or to be paid back or anything. After all, all he really did was let Romeo in to shelter from the rain. It’s not like it wasn’t a lot of work on his end.</p><p>Before he can tell Hinata again that, no, he doesn’t need to be compensated for his basic human decency, Hinata’s eyes light up from across the kitchen, his body shifting so he leans forward slightly.</p><p>“I know! Let me take you out to dinner.”</p><p>“What?” Kageyama almost spits out his tea, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks as he waits for Hinata to continue.</p><p>“You’ve been so nice to me!” Hinata says, leaning forward slightly. “And you’re really cute too. It’s okay if you say no, but I think I’d be kicking myself later if I didn’t at least ask you out.”</p><p>“No, I’ll go to dinner with you.” He clears his throat, swallowing down any awkwardness that came out the first time he said it. “I <em>want</em> to go to dinner with you.”</p><p>Hinata smiles, raising his mug of tea and gesturing for Kageyama to clink them together. “How about Friday then? My treat?”</p><p>A brief thought that Hinata is trying to repay him for the cat thing crosses his mind, but he lets it slide just this once.</p><p>After all, he can get the next one.  </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thanks <a href="https://twitter.com/rinpanna">anna</a> for validating my choice in cat names &lt;3 i figured tobio would name his cat something super basic and romeo is called romeo because he's a player getting all the babes together<br/>this story is partly based on em's cat bill and tobio, partly based on the time my parents thought they were feeding a stray until they noticed a collar, attached a note and then found out that one of the neighbourhood cats was on a diet. whoops. </p><p>AS ALWAYS, find me on <a href="http://twitter.com/HQcharbon">twitter</a>!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>